Clutch for mechanical musical instrument



May 28, 1957 HOFFMAN 2,793,728.

CLUTCH FOR MECHANICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Filed Nov. 20, 1953 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Imum f 'lH11m 91 E V 53 g},

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SAMl/L HOFFMAN- I I I I I I I lllll VII /WTOIQ/YEY I nited rates Patent Oifice 2,793,728 Patented May 28, 1957 CLUTCH FOR MECHANICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Samuel Hofltman, Newark, N. J.

Application November 20, 1953, Serial No. 393,437

1 Claim. (Cl. 192-41) This invention relates to a mechanical musical instru ment and relates more particularly to a novel manually driven musical instrument in the nature of a toy and employing a perforated music roll supported at opposite ends by take-up and driving reels.

It is an important object of the present invention to provide improved means for driving the take-up and the driving reels by a single manually rotatable shaft having a conveniently located crank.

Mechanical musical instruments having wind-organ music producing instrumentalities and music rolls therefor are known in the art and normally a plurality of cranks are employed for driving the several reels and the pump or air compressor for operating the organ. In some of the earlier instruments of the prior art complex clutch arrangements are employed in connection with a single drive shaft. 7

The principal object of the present invention is to provide an instrument of this character with a single drive shaft having a driving connection with both reels and wherein novel clutch mechanisms will provide a driving connection between the driving shaft and the source of compressed air for the organ member, as Well as for the driving reel, when the driving shaft is turned in one direction, and wherein opposite rotation will cause these two elements to idle as the perforated music roll is being re-wound on its original reel.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a musical instrument of the character described wherein there is suflicient inertia in the non-driven reel, whether it be the driving reel or the re-wind reel, to prevent the possibility of unwinding of the music roll.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel clutch mechanism for effecting a driving connection between a driving shaft and a driven member carried thereon, when the shaft is rotated in one direction and for releasing the driving connection when the shaft is rotated in the opposite direction.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the music apparatus of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof, a portion of the music roll being broken away;

Fig. 3 is an elevation of the left-hand end of the device when viewed as in Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 4 is a section taken on line 44 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a section taken on line 55 of Fig. l

Fig. 6 is a section taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a section taken on line 7-7 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 8 is a section taken on line 8-8 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 9 is a section taken on line 9-9 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 10 is a section taken on line 1010 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 11 is a section taken on line 1111 of Fig. 2.

A rectangular, open-top housing is shown at 10 and the lower Wall 11 thereof supports the organ element 12, the structural details of which are not shown since they are conventional. It does, however, have reed cells and reeds disposed within the housing and a reed board 13 at its upper end which is provided with openings 14. An apertured music sheet 15 passes over the reed board and as the openings in the reed board are successively uncovered as the sheet passes thereover, air passes upwardly through the openings, emitting music due to vibration ofthe reeds.

The lower wall 16 of the organ element has an opening 17 through which the air under compression from a manually driven air compressor having a housing 18 passes into the several reed cells. No details of the compressor or air pump are shown. It may be noted, however, that an impeller is mounted on a driven shaft 22 journalled at its outer end in the outer wall of a lower front frame member 23 which is carried by the air compressor housing 18 (Fig. 4). The driven shaft has a worm section 24 which is driven by a worm gear 25 and a thrust bearing element comprising a liatspring 26 is mounted on one wall of the compressor housing.

On its inner surface front wall 23 is dimpled at 27 to form a thrust bearing for the opposite end of the shaft. The web forming the music sheet 15 is mounted on a rewind reel 29 having a core 30 and which is provided at its right-hand end (Figs. 2 and 9) with a shaft section 31.

This shaft is outwardly movable to the right against a fiat spring 32 carried by one end wall 33 of the housing. 10 in which said shaft is journalled. The details of the mounting forthe spring are shown in Fig. 11. The other end .of the reel 30 is mounted in a stub shaft 34 having a driving connection shown at 28 with the reel. This shaft is journalled in brackets 35 and 36 mounted on the two opposed sides of the opposite end wall 37 of housing 10. Shaft 34 has a pulley 41 keyed thereto, the pulley being mounted on a hub 40 secured to the shaft.

The opposite end of the music sheet web is supported by a second or driving reel 42 having a core 43 and which is mounted on a shaft 44 which is urged inwardly by the opposite end of flat spring 32 carried on end wall 33. Movement of reel 42 to the left is limited by a sleeve 45 carried by the left-hand end of reel 42. A hub 46 is keyed to shaft 44 and a pulley 47 is keyed to the hub. Reel 42 is not removable from shaft 44 and when a music roll is to be changed it is reeled entirely upon rewind reel 29 and the reel removed by moving it to the right against spring 32 until its left-hand end clears the inner terminal of stub shaft 34.

The apparatus is driven by a manually rotatable shaft 52 having a crank 53. The shaft is journalled in slots 54 extending inwardly from the front edge of spaced, upwardly extending side frame members 55 which form rearward extensions of front frame member 23. These frame members 55 are flanged at their rear edges as shown at 56 and are secured to the front wall 57 (Fig. 1) of housing 18. The shaft is held in place in these slots by means of a vertical front plate 61 secured to the side frame members and provided with rearwardly turned ears 62 which engage the shaft (Fig. 5).

When shaft 52 is rotated forwardly, i. e., in the direction of the arrows in Figs. 1, 5 and 6, it imparts rotation to worm gear 25 and thus to worm 24 by the following clutch mechanism. Worm gear 25 is carried on a hub 63 freely journalled on shaft 52 and a disc 64 is also secured to this gear as well as to a ratchet wheel 65 having ratchet teeth 66. A disc 67 on which a pinion 71 is mounted is keyed to shaft 52 at the splined section. A clutch plate 72 (Fig. 6) has a central opening, one edge of which has rack teeth 73 which are engaged by pinion 71. The clutch plate further has a struck-out car 74 forming a driving pawl. When shaft 52 is turned rearwardly (clockwise as in Fig. 6) it moves plate 72 upwardly, thus disengaging pawl 74 from the teeth of the 3 ratchet wheel. When turned in the direction of the arrow, however, it moves the plate downwardly, thus effecting a driving connection between shaft 52 and gear 25.-

At the outer end of shaft 52 a pulley76 is freely carried and secured to this pulley 'is a ratchet wheel '77 similar to ratchet wheel 65 and having ratchet teeth 73. A pinion 79 is keyed to shaft 52 adjacent the pulley and the teeth thereof engage the rack teeth 82 of a double acting clutch plate 83 having oppositely facing driving pawls 34 and 85. A second pulley 86 is freely carried on the shaft, one wall 87 of which has ratchet teeth 38 which face oppositely from ratchet teeth 78. Accordingly, when the crank is turned forwardly (Fig. 7) pinion 79 moves the clutch plate downwardly forming a driving connection between shaft 52 and pulley 86 and a belt 90 transmits this driving motion to pulley 47 on the driving reel 42. Clutch plate 72 also effects a driving connection with Worm gear 25 driving the compressor and the instrument plays. A second belt 91 connects pulleys 76 and 41 and since there is no drive imparted to pulley 76 during forward rotation this pulley would idle except for the fact that the unwinding of the take-up reel imparts rotation to pulley 41 and thus to pulley 76.

' On reverse rotation the pinion moves the clutch plate from the position of Fig. 8 upwardly so that low pawl drive 84 moves into engagement with teeth 78 of ratchet wheel 77 which imparts driving rotation to pulley 76. On this reverse rotation the compressor shaft does not turn and pulley 86 is driven only by the unwinding rotation of the driving reel.

It will be noted that driving pulley 76 is larger than driven pulley 41 in order to speed the rewind action.

Driving pulley 86, however, is smaller than driven pulley 47 on driving reel.

Housing 18 serves as a handle which the user may grasp with the left hand while turning the crank with the right hand.

What I claim is:

The combination with a driving shaft and a driven member freely carried thereon of clutch means for effecting a driving connection between shaft and driven member when the shaft is rotated in one direction and for releasing the driving connection when rotated in the opposite direction, said means comprising a toothed ratchet wheel carried by the driven member, an apertured clutch plate having a struck-out ear forming a pawl for engagement with a ratchet tooth on the ratchet wheel freely carried on the shaft and provided with rack teeth along one edge of the aperture, a pinion keyed to the driving shaft and engaging the rack teeth to drive the pawl into engagement with the ratchet tooth when the pinion is turned in one direction, thus locking the pinion, the clutch plate and the shaft for conjoint rotation, and drive the pawl out of such engagement when turned in the opposite direction.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Muller June 5, 1928 

